NPR: Putin warns of nuclear war if NATO sends troops to Ukraine By Charles Maynes
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Migrants
Not all are allowed to stay, but a vast majority of those who do receive little government assistance.
Soft White Underbelly - Sex Trafficking Survivor Interview - Victoria
Soft White Underbelly interview and portrait of Victoria, a woman who was sex trafficked as a child by her mother.
Texts
The texts reveal that Mr. Bradley, who served for a time as Mr. Wade’s divorce lawyer until the two men had a bitter falling-out, assisted the effort to reveal the romance and provide details about it for at least four months — countering the impression he left on the witness stand that he had known next to nothing about the romance.
Felony
The obediently effusive MAGA congressperson, well known for her unfounded, baseless, and frequent comments about the "Biden crime family", in fact has a real and pressing issue with a crime family of her own.
Washington Post: US Rep. Lauren Boebert's son facing possible felony charges in string of vehicle break-ins By Colleen Slevin and Jesse Bedayn
Tyler Boebert had been arrested in connection with a recent string of vehicle break-ins and property thefts and was facing possible felony charges of criminal possession of identification documents involving multiple victims and conspiracy to commit a felony. He also faces over 15 additional misdemeanor and petty offenses...
Delay, Delay, Delay
But simply by taking up the matter now, the high court has effectively helped Trump achieve his goal of pushing back at least the D.C. trial, which originally was scheduled to start next week.
Moment
NY Times: A Moment of Trumpenfreude By Paul Krugman
First, his (Trump's) inability to come up with the cash basically confirms the charges: He isn’t as rich as he claims to be. Second, his evident inability to get anyone to lend him the money is poetic justice for a man who has a history of bilking gullible investors.
Illinois
The cases (Maine, Colorado, and Illinois) are based on a largely untested clause of the 14th Amendment enacted after the Civil War that prohibits government officials who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 6:50 a.m. ET DOW futures are -127, S&P futures are -12.5, and NASDAQ futures are -34. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Soft White Underbelly - One Of The Lucky Ones - Serenity
'Soft White Underbelly' is the film work of Mark Laita. My understanding is that his 4,000 or so videos are primarily of people who live on Skid Row in L.A. This particular video was posted three days ago. The depth of suffering in this country is bottomless.
Peter Santenello - Inside Skid Row - With Soft White Underbelly’s Mark Laita
I like this guy's work. He's just getting right in there, at times with the worst of the worst.
Nicolle Wallace - ‘It Is Unimaginable To Me The Former President Will Be Tried Before November’ Says Judge Luttig
Turns out it really is and was a dog and pony show, all for show.
Richard Lewis Dies
Crap. I thought he was great.
Variety: Richard Lewis, Comedian and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Star, Dies at 76
Happiness
Washington Post: Opinion - Women are divorcing — and finally finding happiness By Lyz Lenz
Studies show that when women advance in their careers, they are more likely to divorce.
Sweet
Gift article available to everyone.
Washington Post: 8 sweet potato recipes, including salad, stew and cake By Anna Luisa Rodriguez
Safe
Gift article available to everyone.
Washington Post: Opinion - Why an ex-congressman is living in a ‘safe house’ from Trump By Elizabeth Becker
On Jan. 6, 2021, police made a barricade in front of my Capitol Hill home to block a potential breakout of the rampaging mob. I watched a robot move down the sidewalk in search of a pipe bomb planted around the corner. What country was I in?
Hybrid
Gift article available to everyone.
Washington Post: The greenest car in America isn’t an EV -A new report says a plug-in hybrid can beat out the greenest of electric vehicles. By Shannon Osaka
The analysis shows that simply running on electricity is not enough to guarantee that a car is “green” — its weight, battery size and overall efficiency matter, too.
Economy
Gift article available to everyone.
The United States would sink farther into misguided protectionism with new trade wars. Business and the wealthy would be enriched by lower taxes and increasingly freed from oversight. Legal immigration would be reduced. And we would continue to pour carbon dioxide into the atmosphere while intentionally sandbagging our booming clean energy sector.
Divide
Gift article available to everyone.
“U.S. births have fallen steadily since 2007...and the total fertility rate is now well below replacement level — the rate at which the population replaces itself from one generation to the next.”
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 6:55 a.m. ET DOW futures are -111, S&P futures are -16, and NASDAQ futures are -75.5. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Peter Santenello - Inside New York City's Most Dangerous Hood - South Bronx
This is three years old.
Exactly
Gift article available to everyone. There's also information in this article on the 'Seven Mountain Mandate', all Americans need to know about this.
NY Times: What Is Christian Nationalism, Exactly? By David French
In the words of the historian Thomas Kidd, “Actual Christian nationalism is more a visceral reaction than a rationally chosen stance.” It is tied, in other words, to a visceral sense that the fate of the church is closely tied to the outcome of any given political race.
Renounced
Those who saw him up close have called the former president a “wannabe dictator” (former Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley), a “consummate narcissist” (former attorney general William P. Barr), and a “moron” (former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, reportedly).
Blunt
Washington Post: Zelensky’s increasingly blunt comments about Trump Analysis By Aaron Blake
But increasingly, Zelensky has apparently decided that diplomacy involves putting pressure on and, in some cases, directly criticizing Trump.
Regret
Very interesting.
The MIT Press Reader: How Fear of Regret Influences Our Decisions - A simple dice game shines a bit of light on the psychology of regret. By Geoffrey Engelstein
Sh*t
...the Clean Air Act is ill equipped to tackle wildfires and other modern drivers of air pollution.
Economy
“Immigration has not slowed. It has just been absolutely astronomical,” said Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “And that’s been instrumental. You can’t grow like this with just the native workforce. It’s not possible.”
Hustle
Gift article available to everyone.
Washington Post: Opinion - Donald Trump’s con-man hustle for the Black vote is not going to work By Eugene Robinson
I guess hearing African Americans stereotyped as ignorant, gullible and criminally inclined doesn’t bother some folks.
War
Gift article available to everyone.
Hundreds of thousands of both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been wounded or killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, including tens of thousands last year in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Applesauce
...in the weeks and months before the recall, the tainted applesauce sailed through a series of checkpoints in a food-safety system meant to protect American consumers.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 6:44 a.m. ET DOW futures are +12, S&P futures are +4.25, and NASDAQ futures are +31. The market is poised to open moderately higher.
Monday, February 26, 2024
Weather
Meanwhile, its an unusually warm 56 degrees here in the Hudson Valley as I post this, with warmer temperatures scheduled for tomorrow.
Protection
...noted Mr. Trump’s “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him.”
Rob Reiner Interview
Gift article available to everyone.
Marlon Brando in ‘On the Waterfront’
That to me is the greatest single performance in American cinema. To this day I don’t know that there’s as good a performance as that.
Trump's Debt
A live counter showing how Trump's debt is accumulating by the second.
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The GoFundMe site, raising money to pay Trump's debt. The comments are telling.
Bill
The measure has no provisions for processes like IVF, meaning access to the procedure would not be protected. It would ban nearly all abortions nationwide.
Russia
And in a Fox News town hall Tuesday evening, he praised Russia for being “a war machine.”
“They defeated Hitler,” Trump declared, apparently referring to the Soviet Union’s role in World War II.
Surplus
Gift article available to everyone
Most meals on the app are sold as “surprise bags,” usually at the end of the day, and you often have no idea what you’ll get. That makes the experience something like gambling.
War
NY Times: Middle East Crisis - Israel Says It Has Evacuation Plan for Combat Areas of Gaza
...a long-awaited plan to the war cabinet for evacuating civilians from “areas of fighting” in the Gaza Strip, a likely reference to an expected invasion of the southern city of Rafah.
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 7:05 a.m. ET DOW futures are -36, S&P futures are -1.75, and NASDAQ futures are +2. The market is poised to open mixed.
Friday, February 23, 2024
Brian Tyler Cohen - Republican Senator Screws Himself With Massive Mistake
He's the senator from Alabama and he clearly has no clue what IVF even is.
'Oboe Concerto No. 1 In C Major'
The music of Carlo Besozzi performed by the City of London Sinfonia
Blog Comment
On Thursday out of the blue, the sidebar of this blog disappeared. Google does stuff like this when they introduce new code into their system. I spent a solid hour trying to figure out what the heck went wrong. I could not find a solution and as a last and usually useless resort, I sent Google a note. In the controls of this blog, one can do that. Considering there are millions and millions of blogs out there, I figured nothing would happen and I was going to have to figure out some type of solution in the future because I still enjoy doing this blog. As an aside, I hope the blog is informing for you, it is for me. As you know there are several areas that I like to look at including the present state of our national political scene. Anyhow, all of a sudden the right sidebar reappeared. I have no idea why, and if this will last. In all honestly, I do wonder if I will continue the blog if Trump wins in November. Strikes me that America as a democratic country will be, obviously, over as the GOP turns America into some kind of Putin-esque authoritarian regime with Trump as it's figurehead. God help us.
'Harvest Moon'
The Brothers Comatose & AJ Lee play Neil Young's salient song. I've posted this before but I think it's an exquisite performance.
Sanctions
Most importantly, the U.S. government will aim to tighten an existing Western “price cap” that requires purchasers to buy Russian oil at a discounted rate or face severe financial penalties. Energy sales are by far the biggest source of revenue for the Kremlin...
Sanctions
“If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going,” Mr. Biden said. “And the costs to the United States — along with our NATO allies and partners in Europe and around the world — will rise.”
Success
NY Times: Bidenomics Is Still Working Very Well By Paul Krugman
Despite some disappointing numbers last week, the basic narrative hasn’t changed. The U.S. economy continues to look like an amazing success story.
Ukraine
The trip, Mr. Schumer’s first official one to Ukraine, comes at a critical time, as a foreign assistance package that includes more than $60 billion in military aid for Kyiv is stalled on Capitol Hill amid Republican resistance.
This Is Insanity
But when doctors at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital evaluated Norris-De La Cruz last week, they refused to terminate the pregnancy, saying there was some chance the pregnancy was still viable...
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 7:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are +40, S&P futures are +.5, and NASDAQ futures are -16.5. The market is poised to open mixed.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Troops
Washington Post: Stephen Miller’s fantasy of red-state shock troops makes no sense Analysis By Philip Bump
The conversation had the vibe of two over-caffeinated guys sitting up late at night and talking through their fantasies...
Meet Tom Parker
“Even before birth,” he added, “all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”
Failure
Washington Post: Three stats that show the failure of the GOP’s Biden impeachment push Analysis By Aaron Blake
A Pew Research Center poll last month showed just 16 percent of Americans were following the inquiry at least “very closely.” A clear majority were following it “not too closely” or “not at all.”
Blog Comment
Google has decided to put the sidebar to this blog down at the very bottom of the page, and screw aroud with it in all kinds of ways. I'm trying to figure out why this occurred. Don't you just love the internet and modern tech where all of a sudden something appears or disappears without any warning, and then you have to put in hours of time just to return it to normal.
Have An Excellent Thursday
"Moy Mackay, Scottish textile artist who uses the material felt to create her “felt painting”"
Chinese Hacker
Washington Post: Leaked files from Chinese firm show vast international hacking effort By Christian Shepherd, Cate Cadell, Ellen Nakashima, Joseph Menn and Aaron Schaffer
U.S. intelligence officials see China as the greatest long-term threat to American security and have raised alarm about its targeted hacking campaigns.
Lindell
Washington Post: Mike Lindell must pay man $5M in ‘Prove Mike Wrong’ challenge, judge says By Praveena Somasundaram
Lindell...claimed to have data showing Chinese interference in the 2020 race. If someone could “Prove Mike Wrong,” as the challenge was called...
Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert who voted for Trump twice, did just that...
Single
But he does not fear the loneliness or isolation that affects so many older Americans, as he has learned to develop “very loving, intimate” platonic relationships with several friends and colleagues.
Homeless In America
This is a gift article available to everyone. This article is a gut punch, I hope you look it over.
NY Times: A Life Without a Home Voices from the tents, shelters, cars, motels and couches of America.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 6:47 a.m. ET DOW futures are +157, S&P futures are +66.75, and NASDAQ futures are +372.25. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Alabama
NY Times: Alabama’s I.V.F. Ruling Shows Our Slide Toward Theocracy By Charles M. Blow
Control of women’s bodies is the endgame. And some religious conservatives won’t stop until that goal is achieved.
Presence
folie à deux - the presence of the same or similar delusional ideas in two persons closely associated with one another
Generations
Miami University began Opening Minds Through Art, a program designed to foster intergenerational understanding, in 2007 and introduced an online version in 2022.
Idolizes
Washington Post: Opinion - Trump idolizes Putin, the man who killed Navalny and invaded Ukraine By Jennifer Rubin
Trump hates Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not creating fake evidence against Joe Biden in 2020.
Have An Excellent Wednesday
The Balıklıgöl Statue - Dated c. 9000 BC and is considered "the oldest naturalistic life-sized sculpture of a human".
Plotting
“He was obsessed with having the military involved,” said a former senior administration official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
Alabama
Washington Post: Shock, anger, confusion grip Alabama after court ruling on embryos By Tim Craig and Sabrina Malhi
Throughout Alabama, there is widespread shock, anger and confusion over how to proceed after the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are people...
Productivity
Improved productivity would mean that firms could create more product per worker. And a steady pickup in productivity could allow the economy to take off in a healthy way. More productive companies are able to pay better wages without having to raise prices or sacrifice profits.
Fakers
Gift article available to everyone.
NY Times: Trump’s G.O.P. Is a Confederacy of Fakers By Thomas L. Friedman
Well, I was imagining that Donald Trump could sell white flags at $1,000 a pop that say, “We surrendered Ukraine to Russia,” autographed by him and the House and Senate MAGA sycophants he’s assembled to deny Ukrainians the weapons they need to stave off Vladimir Putin’s onslaught.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 7:05 a.m. ET DOW futures are -75, S&P futures are -11.5, and NASDAQ futures are -82.25. The market is poised to open moderately lower.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
1912
I've checked around and this document appears to be true, real. This was from a newspaper in New Zealand.
Charges
...Dominic Miller and Lyndell Mays, began arguing as the rally dispersed...a dispute that quickly escalated when both men pulled out guns and began firing at each other. A bystander was killed by the gunfire.
Defector
Putin's doing a little housecleaning.
Washington Post: Bullet-riddled body found in Spain was Russian defector, Ukraine says By Robyn Dixon, Serhii Korolchuk, Beatriz RÃos and Natalia Abbakumova
Red Wine
Today, more and more research shows that even one drink per day can increase your chances of developing conditions like high blood pressure and an irregular heart rhythm, both of which can lead to stroke, heart failure or other health consequences, she said.
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'Study'
18 inches by 12 inches acrylic paint on canvas
